You wouldn’t know this was an autumn Monday night if you saw the line of people waiting along the sidewalk at Chicago’s Bottom Lounge on November 13th. Something drew a huge crowd to the club, a crowd that made it look like peak summer concert season, and that something was progressive metal stalwarts Periphery. Their fall tour of the U.S. landed them in Chicago for two nights – both sold out – with guitarist extraordinaire Mike Dawes getting the crowd warmed up.
Mike Dawes
Dawes is a veritable one-man band, and has earned the reputation as one of the best guitarists in the world. With only an acoustic guitar, he simultaneously and flawlessly provided rhythm, leads, and percussion with superhuman fluidity. In between songs, he gave tips for all the guitar geeks in the crowd. He’s known for his covers of various pop and rock songs, as well as his own compositions. Later in his set, he was joined by Periphery vocalist Spencer Sotelo for some 90s boy band covers, which the crowd relished. His set list can be found here.
Periphery
Periphery had the crowd’s full attention for an evening of musical acrobatics. The setlist – completely different from that of the prior night – pulled from all of their albums, and included fan favorites like Marigold and Blood Eagle. Known for their brand of metal – often referred to as “djent” – their sound is reminiscent of that of Swedish metal band Meshuggah, but Periphery incorporate more variety of instrumentation. They also frequently step away from the abrasive sound of some of their metal peers; vocalist Spencer Sotelo’s melodic stylings and anthemic sing-along choruses give the songs a push into pop or nu-metal territory (a good example being Wildfire off of their 2023 album Periphery V: Djent Is Not a Genre). All of that is to say, any one Periphery song can feel like it spans a whole spectrum of music styles, and the audience was happy to be pulled along for the ride. Check out some photos from the show below.
